The Sun. — London, England, 1836-12-27 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. Why will not the Reformers quarrel with each other ? The Times has proved that they ought to do so, and the Times ought to be a great authority with them. How can the Radicals coalesce with the Whigs ? The latter, we are told, do not intend to destroy the Church, to concede Ballot and Household Suffrage, and Peerage Reform ; and as the Radicals are honest men, who are not actuated by selfish mo tives, but merely 'wish to throw all our institutions into a Medea's cauldron, their objects will not be advanced by keeping the Whigs in office. " Nothing under Beaver'," says the Times, " can they hope to gain by supporting the Whigs, but the remote chance that at some distant period, and under some possible change of circumstances not to be traced upon any exist ing map, they may be able to bring round the official Whigs and the Conservative opposition 5n both Houses to tolerate these revolutionary chimeras." This is, of course, a cogent reason for supporting the Tories. Again, we are told as a reason for the Whigs abandoning the Radicals, that if the former " still pretend that their system of reform presupposes the maintenance of the Church and State, and Monarchy, while, as is notorious, both English and Irish Radicals denounce all three as grievances fit only to be swept away before the march of mind, we submit that it is not with the latter body we are to attribute to the Whigs any common name designating political alliance or partnership, but manifestly with Sir Robert Peel and the Conservatives, who are, one and all, solemnly pledged before the country to as much Reform, that is, as much beneficial change, as may be consistent with the maintenance of Church and State and Monarchy.' " We will not now stop to inquire how wide is the interval between the most liberal Conservative and the most timid Whig. But it would be as unfair to judge of all the Whigs from the extreme next to Conservatism, as to judge of all the Tories from the extreme next to Whiggism. The Whigs may wish " the mainte nance of Church, and State, and Monarchy," and yet Lord Melbourne and Lord Stormont may attach dif ferent meanings to Church, and State, and Monarchy, and consequently entertain very different ideas as to which ought to be " maintained." A conformity be tween those who would concede some Reform, and thoee who hate the very name of Reform, can beget at best very abortive measures. The Church, and State, and Monarchy, are words of convenient vague ness. The Duke of Newcastle would no doubt tell us that the pension to his mother, out of which he was shamed by the exposures of " Radical," was necessary to the support of the State. We have never heard that the Duke of Wellington com plained of the impropriety of the pension granted to and received by his own mother. The monstrous inequalities in the Church—pluralities and non-resi (knee—are declared by the Tories essential to its ex istence. The more unlike the Church is to that of the Apostles, of whom our Bishops are the legitimate successors, the more perfect it is in Tory eyes. The Whigs maintain the Monarchy because they deem it the best security for the liberty of the people. The Tories see only in the Monarchy a pretext for large establishments, civil and military, at home and abroad. Touch a useless place of great emolument, a Tory in stantly exclaims, " You are endangering, the Monarchy.'" . The only public expenditure of which he is impatient is that on commissions to ferret out the abuses in cor porations and courts of law. This expenditure is bestowed for good and efficient services to the public, and is so much withdrawn from Tory idlers—and therefore the Tories will protest against it in the name of the economy of which in this instance they are enamoured. The Whigs and Radicals will not quarrel just now to please the Tories. Many of the Radicals no doubt wish that some of the Whigs were rather less like the To ries, but they do not like the Tories the better on ac count of this resemblance. They may not be satisfied with the extent of Reform conceded to their demands ; but they know why they cannot obtain more. If the House of Lords refuse to pass uninutilated the mea sures sent up to them from the Commons, their Lord ships would only be more complaisant to a Tory Ministry, because its measures wcre of no value to the public. The best proof to the Radicals that there is a wide difrerence between a Whig Re f.-rin Ministry and a Tory Conform Ministry, is the liatred of the Peers to the former. Well, but say the Tories, what do you gain by having a Mi nistry who cannot carry the Lords along with them ? Much. They gain the valuable demonstration that without a reform of time Lords the just expecta tions of the people will be disappointed. The pitcher goes so many times to the well that it is at last broken. The Louis may trifle with the people once and again with impunity ; hut one day a fitting occasion may present itself for curing the evil. We owe to the Mi nistry of Lord Melbourne the whole force of the de monstration that the Lords and a reformed House of Commons cannot act harmoniously together. Lord Grey, from tenderness towards " his order," withheld the demonstration, by taking on himself I the odium of withholding the measures which he knew the Peels would not pass. Lord Melbourne, by universal admission, has moved straightforwards, as his sense of duty compelled him, and the conse quence is the bitter hatred evinced towards his Government by the Peers ; and, on the other hand, the profound impression on the national mind that the Peers are the rotten part of the Constitution, to which the knife of the surgeon or strong medi cines must be applied. The Tory organization through out the country is compact and powerful. One man of twenty thousand pounds a-year possesses much more influence than forty men possessed of five hundred pounds each. Though the property of the Tories bears no proportion in amount to that of the middle classes, yet the interest of any single individual of the latter in any proposed reform is infinitely less than the interest of the Tory in the existence of abuses, and of this the Corruptionists are well aware. A Tory of five thousand pounds a-year obtains a living of two thousand pounds or three thousand pounds a-year for one son in the Church, a place of five thousand pounds or six thousand pounds a-year for another in the colo nies, and for a third and fourth the prizes in the army and navy are open to him. The reduction of a mil lion or two of expenditure is seriously felt by the gentry, but the benefit accruing to an individual of 5001. a-year from the diminution of taxes is comparatively small. Hence the Tories fight pro aris etfocis. Hence their resort to intimidation and other foul practices. It is true were the middle classes to be united intimi dation would fail, but there is at present a want of union, and the dread of being sacrificed renders many timid men neuter. But the Radicals are not such asses to be in love with" Air tyrants, because the Whigs either will not or .cat ot go at once to the root of the evil. They will not quarrel with each other merely to enable the Tories to play their old pranks. They know that the Tories still in' their hearts hate the very name of Reform, and sigh for that Constitu tion which the Duke of Wellington thought so_per fect that nothing could approach its excellence. They will not only not quarrel to please the Tories, but they will in due time reward those members who have lately earned from the Times the reputation of honest and consistent Reformers.—Morning Chronicle. The Patriot newspaper adverts to a conviction which is very generally felt by the Dissenting body, that before they can have the full concession of their claims, it is indispensable that they should have a greater number of friends, from principle, in Parlia ment. Is yet plainer language necessary ? Then the Dissenters mean to say, that until there is a greater number of themselves in the House of Commons, their interests will not be properly attended to. We are only surprised that this conviction never forced itself on the minds of the Dissenters now. What ever sympathy has been expressed by Members of the House of Commons in the grievances to which the Dissenters have been so long subjected, has been by men whose sympathy arose from their general attach ment to the principles of civil and religious liberty, and not from any fraternity of feeling with the ag grieved, considered as Dissenters. There are many Liberal Members who advocate the interests of the dissenting body in the Lower House of Parliament. Whenever any question affecting their rights is brought forward, the Members in question vindicate those rights in general terms, and always give them the sub atantial benefit of their vote. This is all very good in THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1836. true economist, resolved the question, whether he ought tc relieve him.—Morning Herald. Ireland is, and is likely to remain, the political field of battle for the British empire. The affairs of that distracted country, and the troubles incessantly reproduced by the heartless and greedy faction which devours her, have usurped a frightful portion of the labours and anxieties of the Legislature during the three last sessions. Nor are those troubles about to termi- nate, but the reverse ; they are advancing to a crisis, of which no man living can dare to calculate the results. The rebel association, whatever name or mask it may assume, is in substance nothing less than a traitorous and rebel Parliament, which any loyal, wise and deter mined Minister would long ago have summoned the Imperial Parliament to dispose of. This focus of revo lution has hitherto well served the purposes of him who devised and framed it. All evil to the monarchy ' originates there, and is thence dispersed to the remotest hamlets of the island. All the chiefs of the rebel con spiracy there display themselves in panoply of sedition, and dictate plans of warfare against the Constitution to their vassals both in Ireland and at Whitehall. Mr. Sheil, the besmeared with dirty flattery by Solicitor- General Woulfe, and released from the scowling courtesy and fawning malice of O'Connell, who had previously departed for the south, made his appearance on the rebellion stage last Thursday, and delivered a speech in character, which we re commend to the reader's notice. Some passages in the discourse of this learned associator bore re- ference to the Poor Law question, of which, amids ostentatious and voluble professions of an anxious wish to see some relief for the poor of Ireland pro vided by the Legislature, he nevertheless contrived to move and carry the postponement for three weeks —that is, considering the near approach of the 31st of January, the adjournmeet sine die. The learned gentleman managed this manoeuvre with as much slippery dexterity as his master and secret per secutor could have done. He played the false game of the absent Agitator, and gave the poor laws the " go by ;" but let us look a little into the morality of his argument, riot forgetting the prudence. Mr. Sheil admits that there are " millions starving " in Ireland, yet condemns as rank " folly " the giving precedence to " the theories with which a poor law is con nected, over topics of immediate, pressing, and per manent need." Now, after a confession that there are millions of his poor countrymen actually " starving," the English public will be curious to know how it happens that an Irish patriot and landholder, the first of which Mr. Sheil proclaims himself to be, and the second the parson of his parish has proved him to be— how this double debtor to the poor of Ireland ventures to dissuade a whole assembly of regenerators like him self, from considering at the moment, and on the spot, the most effectual means of saving the lives of the poor by reducing the amount of famine—how he dares to regard any measures, let their object be what it may, as comparable for " immediate, pressing, and per manent necessity," to the clothing of naked and the feeding of famished human creatures ; and lastly, what is the description of measures thus paramount to the eternal obligations of charity, love, and mercy? It is obvious, then, from the whole tenor of Mr. Sheil's address, that he is any thing but a protector of the unhappy poor of Ireland, that he deprecates the practice of beneficent patriotism as much as he does discussions upon the "theory" of poor laws, and that he talks the common place, and treads the beaten path of miserable, huckstering, faction. Instead of adminis tering to the wants of the poor, what does he tell his but half-consenting hearers ? Why, that the Irish Church Bill and the Popish Corporation Bill are the grand measures by which the fate of parties—not a word about the fate of the starving poor—but (the fate) of brawling parties, is to be decided. Now, what will either the taking away the tithes from the Protestant clergy, or the granting corporate power to the Popish priests, do for the " starving poor of Ireland ?" We wish the poor themselves to see what a pack of lowminded hypocrites and impostors are raising this outcry, on the base pretence that they care a single straw about the " people of Ireland," who are for ever at their tongues' ends. Mr. Sheil recurs to his rhetorical flourishes, and bids his rebel associates mind the " re g istrations" in the several counties—to spend money for the registration of votes on behalf of popular candidates, and whom it would be cruel hard to put to any expense for their own elections—and above all things he reminds the association, that at the proper time and place a modicum of the rebel rent should be sent down to Tipperary, to assist himself and his colleagues there, by reason that they were both in too narrow circum stances to pay their parish clergyman his tithe until compelled to it by legal process ! " Sir," says Mr. Shiel, " the question is, shall the Whigs remain in office, or shall Lord Mulgrave be superseded ?" &c., &c. That is, in Mr. Sheil's calculation, the question of " more immediate, pressing, and permanent need," than any matter concerning the preservation of 2,000,000 wretched, starving creatures from de struction. Now, we are very sure that Mr. Sheil spoke what he thought and felt in assigning the pre cedency, before all other conceivable questions, to that of " who shall be in office ?" because it is a question which, if report says true, the Learned Gentleman fancies may, ere long, affect himself pretty closely. Unless the insinuations of certain Whig whisperers be altogether calumnious, the Learned Member for Tip perary is not in the happiest or most cordial vein of feeling towards the office-dispensers of the rump. And why should he ? He is still to be provided for. He is sore, but not desponding. Hope still lingers at the bottom of his casket—that is, on con dition that there be no change of Ministry. Who, therefore, can deny with the least show of rea son, that to Mr. Richard Sheil the question of questions is, " Whether the Whigs shall remain in office ?" But to the " people of Ireland," to the " starving millions," we pray the learned aspirant to explain of what manner of importance it is that the " Whigs should remain in office ?" What benefit did the Whigs ever yet confer upon the " starving millions" of Ireland ? What has Mr. Sheil's master ever done for them, but to rob them ? What has Mr. Sheil himself ever done for them, but strive to humbug them ? What is his attempt to shirk the Poor Laws, but a manoeuvre by which he sells the starving . people to the Whigs, and is credited to the amount in the Ministerial ledger of Lord Morpeth ? But, quoth the Learned Member for Tipperary, " The Municipal and Church Bills must be brought for ward almost immediately after the opening of the session, and if the Lords throw out the Bills, as they will do beyond a doubt, a dissolution is inevitable." Say you so, Mr. Sheil ? Then what a vile and paltry game is this with which you and your Whig rump pa trons (that are to be) threaten to insult the country. The only hope or prospect you offer the gaping multi tude is, that a lot of bills which to them are not worth sixpence will be brought into Parliament for the sake of being kicked out of it by the House of Lords, on which you are to dissolve the Parliament ! Let us assure you, Mr. Sheil, that your unloved Whigs will not dissolve the present Parliament. Fur thermore we assure you, that nothing would yield the Conservatives of the empire such ample food` for ex ultation, as an attempt to dissolve the Parliament by the Whigs. Again we take leave to assure Mr Sheil, that the Whigs will make no such attempt, save in the full and confident expectation that their proposal will be laughed at by the proper authority, just object to a scheme of annexation, which, leaving a few prizes to the scholar and the divine, shall impose upon the remaining prebends individually the care of poor and populous parishes. We think, too, that the chapters might with perfect propriety devote, by an arrangement among themselves, a certain portion of their incomes to the general purposes of augmentation. But what we do protest against, and what we entreat the paro chial clergy to protest against also, is the overthrow of that order in the Church which is to the Episcopate what the House of Lords is to the Crown—its main support and bulwark. Will the Globe find that there is any difference of opinion now between us and our respected contemporary the Standard ?—Times. LAND TAX INEQUALITY. — The paragraph in serted in our paper of Saturday, headed " Land Tax," was taken from a pamphlet entitled " The Land Tax, its Ori gin, Progress, and Inequality, stated in. a Letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with a view to its equalization. By a Citizen of Weigtrainater." GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY. We extract the following interesting particulars of the above undertaking, from the Railway Magazine for the present month :- 1. DIRECTIONS OF THE LINE AND PLACES APPROACHED BY IT.—Commencing near the western extremity of Oxford street, London, the line passes by Acton, Ealing, Hanwell (crossing the Brent by a viaduct), to Southall (through the cattle market), within 23- miles of Uxbridge (to which place a branch is projected, as well as to Colnbrook, Staines, and Egham), through Slough, and within 1 of Eton and Windsor, through Salt Hill and Maiden-head, within five miles of Marlow, of Henly, and of Wokingham, to Reading, a distance of 34f miles, where the communication would be effected with Newbury, Marlborough, and the whole of the south of Berkshire. _ . From Reading the line takes rather a northerly direction, passing within three miles of Wallingford, and through Dud cot, where it will be met by a branch railway of 4i miles to Abingdon, and 91 to Oxford. The main line then pro ceeds westward, within two miles of Wantage, 31 miles of Faringdon, four of Highworth, and I of Levindon, where it will be joined by the "Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway," connecting together Cirencester, Stroud, Cheltenham, and Gloucester ; the latter place being the intermediate point for railway communication between South Wales and the metropolis. From Levindon, the line, taking a south-west course, passes within half a mile of Wotton Basset, six miles of Malmsbury, and six of Calne, through Chippenham, with branches to Melksham and Devizes, Bradford and Trowbridge, through Bath to Bristol, termi nating at the depot in Temple-meads, a large area of nearly 20 acres, adjoining the floating harbour. There will also be depots at Bath, Levindon, Reading, and some other places along the line. That at Bath consists of 41 acres, the Company having power to take as much more if necessary. At Bath a branch is already projected, from the coal fields ' of Somersetshire, and at Bristol the line is met by the " Coal-pit Heath Railway," which will bring the coal of the Gloucestershire collieries—a constantly increasing traffic— direct to the Great Western Railway. The communication westward and south from Bristol will be continued by the almost perfectly level line of the ‘• Bristol and Exeter Railway" (for which two extensive contracts are already taken) to the numerous rising wa tering-places on the Severn, and through Bridgwater, Taunton, Wellington, and Tiverton, to Exeter ; from whence, Exmouth, Dawlish, Teignmouth, Torquay, and other places of resort in the south of Devon, are easily accessible. The surveys are also made, and an act will be applied for in the ensuing session, for a continuation of the Exeter Railway to Plymouth. 2. GRADIENTS AND CuavEs.—Considerable improve ments have been effected in laying out the line since the Act of Incorporation was obtained ; all tending to the ac quisition of the most perfect levels, and the most econo mical application of steam power. For this purpose Mr. Brunel, the engineer, has determined to concentrate a great part of the rise within a comparatively short space, by means of two inclined planes, upon which assistant power can be employed, if necessary, aad the remainder of the line, thus left free, to be worked by engines of less weight and expense than would otherwise be practicable. There is but one summit level,* which is about 76 miles from London, and consequently only about 18 miles from the centre of the whole line. The summit is 253 feet above the London depot, and 275 feet above the Bristol depot. From London to the summit the line rises gradually to Maidenhead, Reading, and the point of junction with the Oxford branch, by very easy gradients, nowhere exceeding 4 feet per mile, or I in 1320, and generally under this. This is a distance of 52 miles, and the part upon which the greatest traffic may be expected. From this point to the summit level at Levindon, the line continues to rise gradually, without undulations, and with a maximum inclination of six feet per mile, or 1 in 880. At Swindon, the line to Stroud, Gloucester, and Chel tenham branches off. From the summit level to Bath the line descends by two inclined planes at Wotton Bassett and at Box ; the inter mediate gradients nowhere exceed 6 feet per mile (1 in 880). The inclined planes are both perfectly straight, and the in clination lin 106, or 50 feet per mile.t. The length of the first, is 1 mile 30 chains ; of the second, 2 miles 40 chains. Upon the latter, occurs the Box tunnel, which is the only (but unavoidable) disadvantageous feature upon the line.— From Bath to Bristol the descent is one continued gradient of 4 feet per mile, or 1 in 1,320. Thus, upon the whole line there will be— Miles Furlongs Level, or not exceeding 4 feet per mile 63 4 Above 4, and not exceeding 6 feet per mile 50 1 Inclined planes 'Total ll7 4 and whilst the whole line (with the exception of the inclines) may practically be considered level, it happens that 4 sths of the traffic will be carried upon that part of it where the maximum gradient does not exceed 4 feet per mile.t The curves are in general very slight, chiefly of 4,5, or 6 miles radius. Mr. Brunel considers that even a mile ra dius is not desirable except at the entrance to a depot, where the speed of the engines is always greatly slackened ; and except in these instances, the only deviation from his rule which he has admitted, is in the curve, about a quarter of a mile below one of the inclines, where the radius is three-quarters of a mile, and not on a level, and entirely in deep cutting. 3. EXCAVATIONS, &c.—The total amount of cuttings be tween Bristol and London (including the branches to Bradford and Trowbridge, and the excavations for the tun nels) was stated, in the evidence before Parliament, at 9,750,156 cubic yards ; but this amount will be rather in creased, though not in any considerable degree, by the im provements effected in the levels, and by the substitution of open cuttings for tunnels in one or two places 4 The deep cuttings and embankments are all of moderate extent, and balance each other with sufficient exactness. The general run of the deep cutting is from thirty to forty feet, and the embankment twenty-five to thirty feet. There are points where it is higher ; but those are not frequent, and only for a very short space, dropping off rapidly "down to nothing." According to the Parliamentary plans, there would be seven tunnels upon the line, amounting together to four miles fifty-four chains, but one of the longest of these has been dispensed with, and it is expected that an arrangement will he effected to substitute open cutting for another of them, which was only proposed to avoid injuring an orna mental property. If this change be effected, there will be no tunnel (except that at Box) between London and Bath. This (at Box) is the longest tunnel upon the line, being nearly one mile and three quarters, but the time occupied in passing through it will not exceed six mi nutes at the slowest rate of the engines. Between Bath and Bristol there are four tunnels ; one of .528 yards, one of 1,012 yards, one of 1:32 yards, and one of 435 yards. The three last have the drift carried already completely through, and are proceeding with rapidity. All the tunnels will have a roadway of thirty feet wide, and be from twenty-five to thirty feet in height. Two of them might altogether have been dispensed with, had not the wish to avoid injury to private residences interfered. 4. COMMENCEMENT AND PROGRESS OF THE WORKS.— The Act received the Royal assent on the last day of August, 1835. The letting of the contracts for works commenced on the 26th day of November following, and since that period contracts have been entered into on satis factory terms, as compared with the engineer's estimates, for nearly forty miles of the line, to the amount of upwards of 650,0001. The works are now in active progress between London and Reading, Bath and Bristol, and at the Box tunnel, and the line is marked out, and the preliminary steps for preparing the contracts of the principal works in the intermediate portion are completed. It is expected that the line will be completed from Lon don to Maidenhead in the autumn of 1837, from Bristol to Bath in the spring of 1838, from Maidenhead to Reading • Some small intermediate undulations occur, but so trifling in extent as hardly to be perceptible in a section on th e Par liamentary scale, and in no way affecting the correctness of the above a s a general view of the line. t " The descent of 1 in 107 is considerably less than the descent from the houses at the corner of Parliament-street to the Parliament Houses; it is about half as steep as Burlington Arcade ; and exactly the same as the Lowther Arcade ; and therefore, as regards any appearance of steep descent, there can be none."—Mr. Brunel's Evidence before the House of Lords, June, 1835, p. 93. t In his evidence before the House of Lords, Mr. G. Ste venson stated that " he knew of no railroad of such an extent with such advantageous levels."—Evidence on Great Western Railway Bill, p. 276. Mr. Locko and Mr. Robert Stevenson gave testimony to the same effect :—" The lower the maximum can be kept upon a railway the better, because the power of the engines, or, in other words, the load that the same engines can draw, will be governed by the inclinations over which they have to take that load at any one part of the line." This is the principle on which Mr. Brunel has laid down the Great Western Line.— Ib. p. 92. ¶ The proportionate quantity of cutting upon the Great Western Line, and other railways, shows that the Great Western passes over an easy country. The London and Southampton Railway, up to Basingstoke, and their (once proposed) line on Bristol, averages about 200,000 yards a mile ; the London and Birmingham averages 110,000 ; the Liverpool and Manchester 100,000 ; and the Great Western 78 or 80,000. —See Evi dence before the House of Lords on the Great Western Rail way Bill, p 144. § The Great Western Line is about 6 miles longer than the London and Birmingham Line, and it will have about .1- mile less tunnelling on the whole. The longest tunnel on the Bir mingham line is 1 mile; and on the Liverpool and Manches ter Line there are now two long tunnels ; the firs', 11 mile in length, having an inclination of 1 in 48, through which all the goods pass : the second, also 1+ mile long, 18 feet high, and 25 feet wide, with an inclination of about 1 in 100, to .carry passengers into the contre of the town. itself ; and the Dissenters cannot be too grateful to those to whem they are under such obligations. But something more is wanted. Before the grievances of he Dissenters can be fully understood or explained in the British Parliament, they must invest with the func tions of legislators many members of their own body. They must have men who are acquainted with their ma ster-grievances, men who practically know some thing of the genius of dissent, as contra-distin guished from the hierarchy. Of such persons they have only a mere handful at the present time. They have Mr. Wilks, Mr. Baines, Mr. Brotherton, and one or two others. But what are these, in a House consisting of 658 members ? They are not suffi cient to make the grand principles of dissent pro perly understood in the House. There must be a great accession to their ranks, before they can pre sent that front in the House which will, in the first in stance, command the attention of Hon. Gentlemen to the exposition of the grievances of the Dissenters, and afterwards secure their redress. Let, then, the Dis senters look to themselves. They are not in the help less condition of the man who could do nothing with out the aid of Hercules. Happily they have sufficient resources in themselves. Let them only put forth their strength, and they will be able, at the next ge neral election—now, according to all appearances, just at hand—to return such a number of intelligent and decided Dissenters as will bring the wrongs of the body fairly before the Legislature and the public. Let Dis senters be only true to themselves at the approaching election, and they will make such an impression on the House of Commons and the Government as will in sure the most ample redress of their grievances before the first Session of the new Parliament shall have passed away. A numerous and intelligent body of de cided Dissenters in Parliament would be productive of other benefits to dissent than the mere redress of civil and religious ~.arievances. Such a body would make the principles of dissent correctly understood in the House of Commons, and among churchmen and others ge nerally ; and this is a desideratum anxiously to be de sired ; for at this moment the grossest misconception exists, even among persons otherwise well-informed, as to the true principles and genius of dissent. It is scarcely necessary to add, that in proportion as error as to the principles of dissent is dissipated, will be the progress of those principles throughout the country. There is one very important circumstance which de serves to be mentioned, in pressing on Dissenters to return, at the next election, as many of their own body as possible to Parliament. We refer to the fact, that in returning intelligent and consistent Dissenters the electors will be returning a body of men who are the ardent and sincere friends of civil as well as religious liberty. Dissent is, in its very nature, irreconcilably opposed to despotic principles.—Morning Advertiser. Mr. Sheil, whose skill in " rhetorical artifice" is well known, has come forward as the henchman of O'Connell on the subject of a poor law for Ireland ; but the Learned and Hon. Member for Tipperary does not venture, as O'Connell did, to oppose a legal provi sion for the famishing poor of his native country in a spirit of direct and avowed hostility—he has too much discretion for that. No, he does not say, as the Great Agitator did, that statutable relief would leave the poor of Ireland still poorer than it found them—he does not advance such an absurdity as that, which no man could believe but upon Tertullian's principle of faith, credo quia inzpossibile est. Mr. Sheil only depre cates the discussion and promotion of the question of a legal relief for the poor at the present time. He thinks the question may well be postponed sine die, while Mr. O'Connell and himself pursue their course of selfish ambition and political aggrandisement, pick ing up as they go along every disposable piece of Go vernment patronage in Ireland for their connections and dependants, and leaving the starving masses to the same tender mercies of misgovernment which have made them familiar ‘vith the pangs of hunger and the squalid miseries of the most abject destitution, from a very remote period up to the present era of anti- Saxon agitation and Popish ascendancy. In this country seme of our flinty-hearted and addle-headed Maithusian philosophers have had the effrontery, or perhaps, it was only the stupidity, to assert, that pau perism was created by the poor laws. O'Connell says there are upwards of two millions of beggars in Ire land, and most assuredly that pauperism so extensive and so deplorable was not created by poor laws, inas much as the Irish peasantry have never been tempted to leave the path of honest independent labour for the repose of mendicant idleness by the allurements of a legal provision. Still, Mr. O'Connell, seeing that to render two millions of his starving countrymen com paratively comfortable, or, at least, secure against ab solute want, by a judicious poor law, would greatly di minish his power, and spoil his trade of lucrative agii tion, opposes every proposition for legislative relief with the earnestness and energy of a mill-owner resist ing any alleviation of the factory-system, or an American slave-owner proving his veneration for liberty and the " inalienable rights of man," by furiously opposing the emancipation of the unhappy negroes. But Mr. Sheil, as we have observed, does not offer any direct resistance to the " emancipation " of the " two millions " from the bondage and degradation of a misery that tramples them almost lower in the creation than the beasts that perish. No, he says he feels as strongly as any man the necessity of supplying relief to those famishing people who stretch out their hands for food ; but he is not for extending that relief to their necessities now. He thinks it better that the advocates of a poor law should throw that question overboard at present, and employ themselves in forwarding the political specu lations of the disinterested, the virtuous patriots, who help themselves to the good things of power, while they leave the suffering poor to perish. "It is but just," says Mr. Shiel, addressing the Intimidation So ciety, " that if you have the means, you should em ploy the funds at your command in relieving the popular Members from a part, at least, of the ex penditure to which a registry five times a year exposes them." He then goes on to state that he and Mr. Otway Cave very much want the assistance of those funds to improve their electioneering prospects in Tip perary ; for that purpose he advises the Registry As ciation to " unlock its stores"—au advice which he says he gives with the greatest sincerity. The sincerity of the advice we are far from doubting, though its dis interestedness is not quite so apparent. He gave the Registry Association to understand that they have large sums in their coffers, and assures them that if they wait for an emergency, that emergency has al ready arrived—i. e., the disinterested adviser wants his election secured, and his own pocket saved, in Tip perary. He adds, " What would you think of Ge neral Evans, if, having a large sum of money in his coffers, he should say,' Wait for an emergency ?' " The allusion to General Evans, and the large sum of Spanish money in his coffers, is particularly unkind and cutting at the present crisis. Mr. Sheil ought not thus to heap ridicule on misfortune, and indulge in sarcastic remarks upon the emptiness of the mili tary chest, which has been so long waiting for supplies from Madrid, within the fortress of St. Sebastian. Under the circumstances in which it appears the county Tipperary is placed, we do not wonder to find Mr. Sheil advising the application of certain funds to maintain the purity of election in that quarter, we suppose after the Carlow fashion, rather than the gtving of either time, attention, or money, by the " patriots" to the claims of the starving poor. He calls the discussion of a poor law the " entering upon the abstractions of political economy." Gracious Heaven I the holding out the hand of Chris tian charity to the perishing poor, is, " an abstraction While in several parts of Ire loafndfrompolitical economy the failure I" of the potato crop, in conse quence of the bad weather, and the want of turf fuel from the same cause, thousands upon thousands of the industrious Irish population— industrious when they can obtain em 1 p.oyrnent--are threatened with the most grievous sufferings of cold and hunger, before the winter shall have passed away. But the patriotic Mr. Sheil strides over so much misery, both in the present time and in prospect, as a conqueror strides over the carnage of a field of battle, and tells those who would take some immediate means to relieve the suf ferers, that they are only entering on the abstractions of political economy. If the good Samaritan had been so sage a philosopher as Mr. Sheil, he would have avoided the politico-economical abstraction of pouring oil and wine into the wounds of the suffering traveller, and have allowed him to perish before he had, like a and to Oxford by the autumn of 1838, to the Cheltenham branch in the spring of 1839, and the whole coi.npleted within four years of the commencement. The s ati sfactory execution and completion of all the contracts in their diffe rent stages, within the respective times alloted I.:0 eac h, i, secured by periodical penalties. J. GENERAL DIMENSIONS. Length Breadth of way on embankments and viaducts, and under bridges, 30 feet, viz.:— For double line of railway guage, or width of each 7 feet Space between the two lines Space outside ditto, 5 feet each lO Breadth in cuttings(additional space for drainage) Cuttings—general run of the deep cuttings Embankments, ditto ditto of highest....... 30 feet. 36 to 40 feet. 30 to 40 feet. 25 to 30 feet. 'Tunnels—breadth of way 30 feet. Height to crown of arch Planes—greatest inclination 1 in 106, or 50 feet per mile. Total length of planes, with an in clination exceeding 6 feet per miles. fur. mile 3 7 Sum of level planes, in no case exceeding lin 880 (6 ft. per ml.) 113 5 Total length l l7 4 6. ESTIMATES.—COSi (as proved before Parliament.) For making the railway (at full prices for labour and materials) £1,856,820 For land and compensation (including depots) 337,000 For engines, carriages, and contingencies 306,180 £2,500,000 TRAFFIC. Annual passengers, 522,184 (persons now tra velling various distances on the line, exclu sive of short journeys within 15 miles of London), at 2d. per head per mile Merchandise, cattle, and parcels X s. d. 684,587 17 8 . 337,579 6 8 Deduct expenses (on scale of Liverpool and Manchester Railway) ... Net Or, 131. 17s. 7. TABLE OF G Revenue ler cent. on a ca ipital of ANCES, .X 347,008 11 0 2,500,0001. AND LEVELS. London Depot Maidenhead Ditto Heading Ditto Junction with Oxford Branch Oxford Bye Branch Summit Level at Le- v indon Chippenham Bath Bristol ;RADIENTS, DIST. Distance' from London Depot. 'Distance' from Bristol Depot. lktiles. Intermel diate dis tances. Miles. Level above London Depot. Greatest Lion in the interm . diate distances. Ft. In 6 0 6 0 4 6 0* } 4 0 22i below Exclusive of two inclined planes. 8. Table of Time, which will be occupied in travelling between London and Bristol, and the principal towns on or near to the railway, at the minimum velocity of 25 miles per hour : H.M. Slough . Maidenhead 1 0 Reading Oxford, by a branch of 10 miles ...... 2 25 - without ditto 4 20 Vantage 2 30 Swindon 3 0 Gloucester, by a branch of 28 miles H. M. Cirencester ... about 3 30 Stroud 4 0 Wotton Bassett 3 15 Chippenham Melksham, by a branch of 5 miles. ~ 4 0 [lt is believed the minimn Trowbridge, or Bradford, by a branch of 9 miles 4 15 Bath 4 10 Bristol . 4 40 will be 30 miles per hour.] The foregoing article must be interesting alike to the public and the proprietors. One thing is quite clear that that the Great Western line is unassailable by competing lines, in consequence of its situa tion and almost perfect level. If there be any line whose traffic has been under-rated, it is this one. The passenger-traffic, which experience now shows to be increased at least four fold, and, in some cases, twenty to thirty fold, as compared with previous modes of travelling, is here taken at only two fold, and all travelling (immense in amount) less than 15 miles from London, is omitted altogether. There is au important feeture in this line, not sufficiently considered by those who seek investments, that its revenue will commence in the autumn of the coming year, 1837, and that by the following May more than half the entire revenue will be accruing, that is, on the traffic in the first place from London to Maidenhead, and, at the second pe riod, to Reading and from Bath to Bristol. We believe the public, and even those generally inte rested in railways, are so little in the habit of close investi gation, that they will be surprised to learn, what we are able to prove is the fact, that there are upwards of 90 coaches up, and 90 back, daily, between Maidenhead and London, and nearly as many on to Reading and back ; that there are 34 coaches from Bath to Bristol, and the same num ber returning, performing altogether 72 journeys daily, be tween the two latter cities. This is on nearly half the en tire line from Bristol to London, and exclusive of all private carriages and other conveyances. There is nothing like it besides in the united kingdom. _ _ _ The coaches on the road between Liverpool and Man chester, before the opening of that railway, only amounted to 25. The latter railway cost upwards of 40,000/. per mile ; and it is now ascertained that the " Great Western" will not exceed an average cost of 23,000/. per mile, in cluding all extras. It is also ascertained that the deduction made in Parliament for the annual expenses is full one third more than will be incurred, owing to improvements, to the amended levels, and the adoption of a wider guage for the rails. It must, then, be clear to any person who will investigate the foregoing details, resorting to simple arithmetical calculation, that this line will return a very large pi-Tit from the day of its opening to lifaidenhead in September next. Sunday, according to immemorial custom, after the performance of service in Westminster Abbey, forty poor old widows of good character received each 2lbs. of prime beef without bone, a half quartern loaf of bread, and twopence in money. The origin of the bounty is nearly lost in antiquity ; but, according to tradition, Lady Mar garet of Richmond, mother of Henry VII., bequeathed certain lands to the corporation of the Abbey, subject to this bounty. The records of the Abbey afford no informa tion on the subject ; for at the time of the civil wars Oliver Cromwell seized the whole of the property of the Abbey, and by public auction disposed of its landed possessions. Some of the ancient records were transferred as titles to the purchasers, and others were lost or destroyed. At the restoration the lands were wrested from the purchasers, and restored to the Abbey. Sunday morning, between one and two o'clock, the following fatal and appalling occurrence took place at Mr. Banks's, landlord of the Hare and Hounds, Buckeridge street, St. Giles's. It appears, from the statement of a number of females that witnessed the melancholy occur rence, that Margaret Tate, a female between 40 and 50 years of age, residing in Buckeridge-street, accompanied by her daughter, 16 years of age, entered a large public room. at the back part of Mr. B.'s house, which is appropriated as a public kitchen, for the accommodation of persons fre quenting that part of the neighbourhood. After they had been sitting in the room some length of time drinking, an altercation ensued with the elder Tate and another female, blows ensued in the scuffle ; the unfortunate daughter in terfered, for the purpose of taking her mother away, when she was suddenly seized round the waist by her and thrown with tremendous violence to the ground ; in her descent the back part of her head struck against a form, which caused the unfortunate girl to instantly expire. Surgical assistance was immediately procured, but all endeavours to restore animation proved unavailing, as the vital spark had fled. The deceased possessed remarkable muscular powers, and was famed amongst her companions for her courage. The body lies for a Coroner's Inquest, and the mother was conveyed to the station-house in George-street, to await the result of it. . THE CELEBRATED FRUIT-GlRL.—Betty Neale' for many years lived in St. James's-street, in a small house with a bow-window, on the western side, afterwards occu pied by Martindale. It had not the appearance of a shop, but was exactly as it now is. It had been built by subscrip tion for her, and was, in fact, the rendezvous of the opposi tion party, who met at her house every day. She never admitted chance customers ; and one day, upon Col. Lut trell's calling, and asking for fruit, Betty desired him to walk out, as she only kept fruit for particular persons. Betty Neale was greatly in the confidence of the heads of the op position party, and often employed by them in gaining in telligence. —Horace Walpole's Letters. The following statement was made to the agent of the British and Foreign School Society, when at Shrews bury, a week or two ago :—From Michaelmas, 1834, to Michaelmas, 1835, there were convicted 660 persons, who had been previously confined in Shrewsbury Gaol. Of this number, only 130 could read and write. Nearly 300 were in a state of total ignorance. The most atrocious crimes were committed by the most ignorant. At the sale of the effects of the late J. Fortescue, Esq., at Buckland Felleigh Park, on Wednesday, a gentle man bought a copy of Sir W. Davenant's works for a few shillings. On taking it home and turning over the leaves he found a new Bank of England note for 101., dated 1766, which had doubtlessly lain there since its issue from the Bank.— Western Times. PARKER, THE MUTINEER. Our readers may recollect, that about a month since (October 22) a paragraph appeared, stating that the wife of Richard Parker, the principal mutineer at the Nore, had appeared at a police-office to claim parish relief, and to pass into her native country, Aberdeenshire. This statement having attracted the notice of some philanthropic indi viduals, they resolved to rescue this poor, old, blind, forlorn, and destitute woman from the inconvenience of a journey of 500 miles in this inclement season, with the intention of tracing relations, who probably had ceased to exist ; and with this benevolent and praiseworthy intention they re moved her from St. Giles's workhouse to the Orphan Asy lum, Wellclose-square, and published a short account of her extraordinary history. We have been much struck with the clear and intelligible manner in which the afflicted widow reverts to the minutest circumstances of this interesting event, and the extraordinary part she bore therein ;—her reception at the Palace with the petition for her husband's life ; witness of his execution when she was not allowed a parting interview, although she had travelled 500 miles for that purpose, having been liberally supplied by her friends with money to purchase substitutes for her husband, and reclaim him from his perilous position ; her interview with Admiral Bucknor ; the extraordinary means by which she effected the exhumation of the body, and brought it to London ; the interference of the Lord Mayor ; and the steps taken to avoid the apprehended tumult at the funeral : all of which matters seem indelibly impressed on her me mory, notwithstanding her great age, and the heavy afflic tions she has endured ; and she narrates the smallest cir cumstance in the most graphic manner, leaving no doubt to be entertained of the truth. It seems that Parker was entitled, by reversion to a maternal property, of about 200/. per annum, and this he willed to his wife, who for nearly half a century appears to have enjoyed it ; by what means this property has been alienated we have not yet learned, but for the last five or six years she has subsisted upon the remains of her personal property, and during that time received some charitable donations from those who " do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame." Our kind-hearted Monarch, with that benevolence which always prompts him to respond to the petition of the sailor's widow, has, during that interval, presented her with two sums of 201. and 101., as the letters of Sir H. Wheatley (which we have seen) testify ; this is an act of grace which deserves the more praise for the disinterestedness on the part of our beloved King, who allowed not the cha racter of the husband to thwart his charity and commise ration for his desolated relict. We doubt not, that could any charitable individuals be induced to interest them selves for this poor creature, whose sojourn in this world cannot, in the course of nature, be long, the property ad verted to, or a portion of it to suffice her wants, may be recovered, and a sufficient sum for that purpose would be subscribed. Our mite shall not be wanting ; and what ever may have been the crimes of the husband, we trust that circumstance will not induce our readers to withhold their charity ; and it must, moreover, be remembered, that, for a considerable period, upwards of a dozen sail of the line, and a prodigious number of merchant ships, with valuable cargoes which had been accumulated under the guns of the Fleet, were completely under the con troul of Parker, who could, by a single word, have trans ferred them to the Directory of France. It is true, that during the latter period of his usurpation, he might not have been able to persuade the seamen to join in so abominable a design ; but it is unquestionable, that for a long time the destiny of the Fleet was in his hands ; and when the history of the period is considered, the state of the French Navy and our own (for the victories of the Nile, Camperdown, Copenhagen, and Trafalgar had not then been achieved), there is much due to the man's for bearance. In fact, Richard Parker appears to have been a character, who, if his talents had been developed under favourable circumstances, would undoubtedly have attained to distinction. His perilous eminence was, in a manner, forced upon him ; and we really believe his intention was to redress the grievances of which the seamen complained (and let it be remembered, they were all subsequently redressed), and then to surrender the Fleet into the hands of the officers, in the same manner as had been done at Spithead. When his adherents fell off, he ap pears to have made no attempt to escape—and he could, up to the last moment, have taken off one or more ships— but surrendered himself to his fate, in the hope that his life might expiate the crimes of his comrades ; a conduct which, although in Parker's case displayed by a rebel and a mutineer, has been exalted into heroism in persons who had far less claim to such distinction.—Naval and Mili tary Gazette. A novel feature in periodical literature is about to be presented with the opening of 1837. In " Bentley's Miscellany" for January, one of his contributors in himself appears like his country's shamrock in the tripartite charac ter of poet, musician, and painter ; need we state that we allude to that capital delineator of Irish life, Lover ; and it will be curious to see how Cruikshank will stand beside this new adventurer in the region of art. " Boz" and Cruik shank against Lover are, however, powerful odds. The public must see and judge for themselves. THE LATE GEORGE COLMAN.—One of the most interesting features in the January Number of the " New Monthly Magazine," to be edited by Theodore Hook, Esq., will consist of an article on the genius, wit, and humour of the late George Colman, from which it is expected that the friends and admirers of that distinguished dramatist, as well as the public at large, will derive much gratification. In the same number will be given no less than fifteen other original contributions by Theodore Hook, Esq.—the Au thor of " Tremaine "—the Hon. Mrs. Norton—the Author of " Rejected Addresses "—N. P. Willis, Esq.--Miss Lan don—Douglas Jerrold, Esq.—J. B. l3uckstone, Esq.—Al fred Crowquill, Esq.. &c. &c. A CHARGE TO THE JURY :BY AN AMERICAN JUDGE.—" Murder, gentlemen, is where a man is murde rously killed. The killer in such a case is a murderer. Now murder by poison is as much murder as murder with a gun. It is the murdering that constitutes murder in the eye of the law. You will bear in mind that murder is one thing and manslaughter another ; therefore, if it is not manslaughter, it must be murder. Self-murder has nothing to do in this case. One man cannot commit felo de se on another ; that is clearly my view. Gentlemen, I think you can have no difficulty, Murder, I say, is murder. The murder of a brother is called fratricide, but it is not fratri cide if a man murders his mother. You will make up your minds. You know what murder is, and I need not tell you what it is not. I repeat, murder is murder. You can re tire upon it if you like." THE MARRIAGE RING.—A few days since a cir cumstance occurred at Lamerton, in this county, which for the time gave rise to no little feeling of anxiety as well as of mortification in the breasts of the pair most interested, as also that it has afforded a topic for conversation for the whole parish. A couple having resolved to bind themselves in Hymen's chains, repaired after due notice to the Church for the purpose. 'The clergyman attended, and the cere mony had proceeded to the part at which the ring is to be produced, when, conceive the consternation of the Bride groom and terror of the Bride, at finding he had left it at home ! ! What was to be done—to return for it the dis tance forbad—several rings were tried, but though extra size would have been in this emergency, no objection, it Is indispensable the hoop of good should be large enough. Time was flying fast, and soon must the matter at least have. been deferred to another day, when the clergyman, feeling for the situation of the pair before him, dispatched a mes senger to his own house, requesting the loan of the ring of his better half, which being kindly acceded to, and all right —the parties were made one, and the ceremony finished.-- Devonport Independent. T. COX SAVORY, Goldsmith, &c., 47, Cornhill, London, informs the Public, that he offers SILVER WATCHES , on the celebrated PATENT LEVER CONSTRUCTION, (th e most accurate on which a watch can be made) for SIX GUINEAS EACH, with all the latest improvements, i. e. the detached escap ment, jewelled in four holes, capped, hand to mark the seconds, hard enamelled dial, and maintaining power to continue going while wind- ing up. hand N.13.—1f in hunting Cases, 10s. 6d. extra.—Second - Watches purchased in exchange. B IR THS. On the 21st inst., Mrs. J. Anderson, of Highbury-place , of a sol_1; On the 2 . )d inst., Mrs. J. P. Kennard, of Lombard-strect, of daughter. On the 22d inst., the lady of the Rev. S. Wilberforce, of a daugh ter, which lived only till the day following. MARRIED. On the 21st inst., at Hanwell Church, Mr. John Kent, of Houn slow, Middlesex, to Mary Ann, third daughter of Mr. A, Wood, of New Brentford. On the 24th inst., at St. Mary's, Islington, E. Newton Bryant , Esq., of Gibson-square, to Ann, eldest daughter of H Bennett, Esq., Compton-terrace. DIED. On the 23d inst., at Totnes, Devonshire, the Rev. John Nether ton Edwards. On the 21st inst., at K e nsington, Mrs. Elizabeth Williams . On the 26th of August, at Poonah, Jane, des Esq., of the Hon. East India Company's Civil Service, and el t W daughter of the late , Swaine, Esq., of Leverington, in Cam bridOgeshire. wife of J. M. Br owne, n the 21st inst., at the Vineyards, Great Baddow, Essex, aped 59, Anne, wife of Mr. T. Probert, of Newport, Essex, solicitor, and eldest daughter of the late Rev. Thomas Carwardine, of Colne Priory, in the same county. On the 23d inst., at Kilburn, Thomas Sanctuary , third son of the Mr. M. Hill , of W aterden house, Norfolk, aged 30. On the 23d inst., a ge d f our y e ars and a half, Anne E lizabeth, the only surviving daughter of the late Mr. J. Cauthorn, bookseller, of O Cocksur-street. n the p 25th inst., Miss Sarah Shakspear, niece of W. J. Lyon, Esq., of Walbrook and Claremont-square London : Printed and Published by M URDO YOUNG, of is o. 112, Stra n d, a t Th e S u n Office, No. 112, Strand, in the county of Aliddlesex.—Tuesday, December 27, lea. 76* 93 106 117/ Miles. 117 i 94 83 24i 164 13 111 Feet. 4 0 4 0 3 6 4 0